The sensation of breath ran down my chest, tickling my hair as it brushed past and even managed to me with its touch. Opening up my eyes, I slowly came to the recollection of where I was, and why I could feel someone breathing all over me. Of course. Of course I was in bed with Eos. That made perfect sense and wasn’t something to worry about at all.
Had anything happened between us? The last thing I could remember was that we had scouted the base for Cherry… and then returned… and Titan was waiting up for us.
Slowly it all came back to me, how Eos had asked for this ‘one pleasure’. Nothing had happened. Letting out a sigh of relief, I also realised that in the back of my mind, there was also a minute part of disappointment in that sigh too.

Blowing out a huff, my bed partners eyes fluttered endearingly as she groaned and pulled me closer to nuzzle me more; a soft voice filling my mind. ‘Just a little longer?’
Just a little longer? Sure. Closing my eyes, I gave in to the feminine voice in my mind. Just a little longer.

Opening my eyes some time later, I wasn’t sure if I had stayed awake or if I’d fallen asleep in the time, but the hooves of a certain, extremely content, blue mare were still wrapped around me as my stomach and bladder told me it was time to end the bliss that was such comfort. Trying to pull away, I felt her grip tighten just a little, fighting with me, not wanting me to go. Gently breaking her grasp, I watched as Eos’ hooves begged for something to hold onto, at which point I slid a pillow into her reach and watched with an adoring smile as she found new comfort in the soft touch. Covering her over with the blanket, I kissed her cheek and trotted out of the room as quietly as I could, doing my best not to end her slumber.

Walking down the hallway, I made my way over to the bathroom, swiftly sitting down upon the porcelain throne. Doing my business was normally a peaceful time of tranquillity, but this wasn’t to be. Immediately I recognised my problem; I wasn’t only due to have my morning dose of prescribed medicine, but I also had a severe craving for my personal medicine too. Finishing up and washing my hooves as quickly as I could, I had to stop myself from galloping back to the room I had slept in. I needed the quick fix, I needed my Zen.

Opening the door and sliding into the room, I didn’t see Eos in the bed any more, though I figured she must have decided that she’d had enough sleep and gone off to do her own morning routine. Placing her bag on the bed, I casually riffled through with a wing as I did the same with my own bag with my hooves, trying to find what I wanted more and more as the seconds passed.

Finding a needle, I smiled with glee. The moment I pulled it out of my bag and saw it however, my whole world felt dimmed. A wet blanket had metaphorically been dropped on my head from up on high: the syringe was empty.
The pit of despair that filled my heart as I looked upon what had been my last syringe began to make me feel sick. I needed the sweet mercy that only med-x could provide. My head was feeling heavier than a bag of concrete and my stomach was doing quadruple backflips and twists from the anxiety. Searching through my bag yet again proved useless. That really was the last of my supply.

As if I hadn’t had enough trouble already, I felt my heart threaten to stop as a voice filled my ear from a lot closer than it had any right to. “Missing something? Don’t worry, I’ll give you the Buck in just a moment.”
I went to respond, but Eos walked out from my side and looked at me with a cocked eyebrow as she picked up the empty syringe with her magic. “Oh, it isn’t the Buck you’re after at all, is it?”

Lying to her would do no good, I was caught with red hooves. It wasn’t like Eos had been scolding me, but I didn’t want to admit my weakness. I didn’t want her to see me like this. All of the other times, I could blame the injuries I’d suffered, but now? Now I needed it for me, not for the pain. I needed it to clear my head of the urges, to wash away my physical anxiety, to be myself. Turning my head away and looking at the floor, I felt shame wash over me as a limply muttered my answer. “No.”

Placing a hoof under my chin and pulling my face up to meet hers, I still looked away. I couldn’t bare to look at her, but I also couldn’t figure out why this meant so much to me. Back at home I felt no shame about indulging in med-x so long as I was getting all of my jobs done and kept myself capable of functioning despite it. I’d seen what had happened to those who became controlled by their choices and I swore that I wouldn’t let myself get that way. I just… I just needed a little! Even half a syringe would be enough to take the edge off… and yet it made me feel weak as Eos coddled me.

“Look at me.” Her words ordered with a firm softness. I denied her that request, closing my eyes, wanting to reel back and sink into the floor. Once more she spoke, her orders clearer now than before. “Crimson, look at me.”
Opening my eyes, I reluctantly obeyed her command.
“I’m not judging you, Crimson. You’ve been there for me as I’ve broke down in tears, you make me feel like I’m more than just a set piece, more than just something to be idolised. You make me feel like a mare that can be loved like any other.”

As I listened to her words, I felt a closeness between us, an understanding. She was telling the truth. Nodding my head weakly, I couldn’t think of anything to say, my head was pounding too much and my body felt too sick to be at my aid. Instead, I let her continue.

“Here’s the deal. I will let you have that syringe of med-x that you want… if you give to me what I want.”

I hadn’t even noticed that my eyes had rolled away from her face until she said those words, until my focus snapped back to her like lightning. The way her eyes looked at me filled my heart with a sense of passion that broke through all of the sickness I felt. Was… was this for real? Of course it was. This was Eos. But… could I? Would I? I had traded kisses for our own safety when in danger, I had also given them in order to pull her out of the depths of her emotional hell, or to avoid being plunged into my own – but the look in her eyes said to me she was asking for more than that. I had already gone too far, done too much, and yet I was questioning whether I would go even further not only to overcome the world crashing down around me as my body pleaded for relief… but also because my body pleaded for relief in other ways too. Could I?

Without realising what I was doing, I felt my face just forward as my tongue slipped past her lips, a passionate embrace of my hoof reaching around the back of her head as she brushed my ear. I lost myself in the moment as the pleasure seemed to even quell what horrid sensations I was experiencing but a few seconds before. It wasn’t until we both needed to breathe that we stopped, panting in unison as we parted. With that, our eyes locked in unison. Eos’ gaze seemed like it was bearing down on my soul, going through my mind without me having any knowledge of it other than her dedicated attention to me. Or perhaps she was just too overcome with lust to look at me any other way.

As a new prang of guilt hit me, I realised what I had just done. Looking back to the ground, it didn’t matter that I was beginning to feel all of the same pains that I had before, my mind lashed out at me harder than any physical sensation could. “I… I can’t go further.” I sadly murmured. “I…”

Catching her breath with one long sigh, Eos picked my head back up to look at her and kissed me once more, albeit a lot more briefly than we just had. There was a sadness in her eyes, though a second later she seemed to reset herself and smile gently at me before brushing my mane with a hoof. “I’d say that’s worth half a syringe. Stay right here, I’ll be right back.”

As she left the room, I climbed onto the bed and began questioning myself. I had just gone and done it. Kissing her to save our lives was forgivable. Kissing her to stop her from destroying the last moments myself and Cherry had shared was forgivable. Kissing her to help her overcome her sorrows and pull herself together, to not put us all in danger? Questionable, sure, but it was at least with better intentions.
This? Celestia damn it, if I’d been any weaker, I’d have outright slept with her just to have my own way. I would have done it purely for myself.

True to her word, Eos walked back in moments later with a syringe close to her chest, magically reappearing as her invisibility wore off. I went to take it off of her, but the dark blue mare simply shook her head. “Uh-uh-uh. I get to apply this for you. I did say you’ve only earned half a syringe, after all.”

My whole body shook with delight as she kissed the back of my neck, my head drooping down before Eos carefully stabbed me with the needle. As soon as the stinging had begun, it stopped with the first trace of that magical fluid beginning to flow into me. A wave of relief slowly made its way up and down my body, removing the overladen saddlebags that weighed me down despite not wearing any. Turning to face her as she wiped the needle clean and put the cap back on, I kissed her entirely off of my own volition, feeling all to happy just to be freed from my suffering.
Smiling back at me, Eos popped the cap off of the Buck and put that on my tongue, allowing me to swallow it freely. Now my body had what it needed to feel right again, I could be me again.

Letting out a sigh of relief, all of the confidence I typically held came rushing back to me, a smirk on my face. I was back in action.

Walking into the main room, it was time to take action. “Selene, Eos, Titan!” I called out knowing that they’d be wondering what the hell was going on, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was that they followed my command. “Main room, now.”

Selene teleported in next to me, making an almost blank face, though her lips extended as far as they could in a neutral pose, staring at me oddly. “Hmmm. Tell me your secrets. Why have you called me? Why does Eos get to read your mind but I don’t?”

Eos laughed as she sat behind me, draping her hooves around me. “You didn’t need to yell for me, I would have follow you anyway.”

Next was Titan, appearing with Helios in tow. “You call out for the others, and yet you didn’t call out for me? This is very strange, Crimson. Wh-” Though as quickly as she began to complain, her powers must have answered her question as she let out a simple “oh.”

“Titan. You are to take Eos and Selene out to the dirtiest, nastiest, strongest pile of rads you can find and keep them safe. I want the three of you to be as energised as possible. That’s how you lot work, right? You soak up rads and get stronger from them?”

“Well, actually.” The ghoul began, his gravelly voice assaulting my ears with his indignant tone. “Ghouls don’t typically become stronger through rads, we just heal by them.”

“We however, do recover stamina and can even increase our capacity of magical strength and healing when soaking in rads, yes.” Helios confirmed. “There has even been two of our kind who found radiation pits so strong that they physically grew in size by no less than an extremely alarming amount, though they’re the exceptions, not the rule. Despite the fact that entrance to Unity was meant to make all of us equally powerful and wonderful, there will always be outliers who take to the process differently than others. Just as not all are capable of joining us, there will be those whose body takes to the process so that, again, they are capable of even more.”

“Yeah, I remember when it happened that last time. She was absolutely HUGE!” Selene mentioned with a nod and a dance, raising her hooves to the ceiling. “All of Unity was shocked and amazed by how big our sister became. She ended up becoming as big as a building!”

Looking at her in disbelief, I couldn’t help myself as I dismissed her claim that an alicorn could become ‘as big as a building’, but as quickly as I dismissed it, Helios projected the image into my mind and I felt my jaw drop. In front of me I saw the sheer size of this towering alicorn, and a part of me felt absolutely in awe despite the terror it induced. They hadn’t been joking.

As the image in my mind faded away, I felt as if a strike of lightning had just hit me and revitalised my ability to think. Looking straight at her, I could almost kiss her with the idea she had just given me. “Helios, I know you can read my mind, but you just projected a vision into my mind. Does that mean you can also receive visions? Memories?”

Nodding her head in response, she let out a small ‘mhm.’

Without hesitation, I began to really get into my jive with this. “Where’s the best place to make a big picture. I don’t care if its a wall or a table, we just need somewhere that isn’t too… open.”

Her instruction was simple; “Follow me.”

With that, I did. Walking past Darklight and Freight Train, I whistled at them to grab their attention. “You two, come with me. Once we know where we’re going, I want you to grab everyone else, Freight Train. We’re making some dinner plans.”
The line sounded a lot cooler in my head than it did out loud, though I let out a sigh of internal relief as the message was understood. Now the three of us walked down the hallway, following Helios until she stopped. Knocking on the door, she found it was locked.

“Drat. I’m going to nee-” At that point, she held onto the ‘E’ before turning to me and smiling. In a flash of green, she disappeared. Great. Of course. Waiting for what felt like a lot longer than the five seconds it really was, Helios reappeared before crashing into me forehooves first, bringing us both to the floor.
With a sheepish smile, she let out a small sorry before teleporting yet again, this time with myself included.

The room was in complete darkness, though the light peering out from around the doorway provided at least some illumination. “So, this is how you ended up falling into me then, I take it? You tripped as you teleported?”

I couldn’t see Helios’ face through the darkness, though a part of me knew that, here, she felt a lot more inclined to reveal her true feelings through her facial expressions. For some reason, I could envision a look of annoyance and defeat as she gazed at me.

“So, where’s the lightswitch?” I asked. Using her horn to cast a spell, the room now began to glow an eerie green colour, much like the background colour of my PipBuck. Of course, my PipBuck! Facehoofing from embarrassment, I quickly turned on the light and burned away most of the darkness. Now, with my enhanced sense of perception guiding my outstanding detective skills to turn on the light and unlock the door. Outside stood Deadlight, with Freight Train and all of the others approaching promptly.

As the team piled in, they quickly found chairs to sit at, all facing away from where I stood. Feeling a little annoyed that they’d walk right past me, I turned and saw what had been the reason as to why they would do such a thing; Helios had guided me to an actual planning room, a room which included a black board much like the ones pre-war and Stable Tech schools would use, only, this was much, much larger. From the floor to the ceiling and side to side, it was much less a board but rather the whole wall was a canvas for planning. This… this was perfect. I liked this.

Walking up to the board, I smirked. Things were getting better and better as there was even a box with all different colours of chalks inside. This was more than perfect, this was Celestia herself gifting us this opportunity. “Let’s begin. Helios, if you’d be so kind to come to my side, I’d like you to take the white chalk, and get ready; you’re going on a little ride.”

With that, Helios began smirking at me… and something about it told me I was biting off more than I knew about. Touching her horn to my head, my whole world melted.

Coming back to consciousness, I saw Tsunami’s face, intensely staring at me with complete perplexity. Jolting back as she began to wave a hoof in my face, I almost fell over before the grey mare’s magic caught me barely inches from the floor. Closing my eyes and shaking my head, I felt… odd.

“See, I told you he would still be alive. He might be a Stable colt, but he is Four Ridges stock even still. Takes more than… whatever that is.” Grinder muttered with a laugh.

“What about her though?” Brick retorted. “You think she wandered into anything she regrets while poking her head into his? I’ve heard plenty of stories.”

Were… were they taking bets on if I’d survive having my mind read? And stories about me? Seriously?
Scoffing at their foalish behaviour, I couldn’t stay mad, not really. I’d undoubtedly make all the same sorts of comments if I’d witnessed it instead… and besides, I did have quite a few ‘stories’ to be told, I suppose.

Clapping my hooves twice to recapture their disciplined nature, the banter stopped dead. Helios, however, remained as if she was a statue. I’d have been lying if I said it didn’t fill me with worry. I had seen her quite happily being stoic and even statuesque in the short time I’d known her, but this seemed deeper than usual. Raising my hoof to touch her shoulder, Tsunami quietly advised against it. Best to leave her whilst she did whatever she was doing, she said.

Taking my companions advice, I fell to my haunches and began to wait. Seconds passed, and passed... and passed some more.

Finally, she opened her eyes, and the look in them as they fixated on me immediately. Along with her cold hard stare, a couple of came out. “So, you know now?” A small sigh followed. For the first time ever, Helios actually seemed… defeated? It was completely beyond me to see the graceful mare look like this, I was so accustomed to seeing her stoic but completely content face be all I knew. What did I know now?

Wrapping her hooves around me, Helios gave me a hug. That was even more unexpected than her sigh, though the words ringing through my mind soon informed me. ‘Thank you for accepting us for who we are now. It means a lot to all three of us.’

Returning the depth of the embrace, the moment was over as quickly as it had begun. If I hadn’t had witnesses there, I was certain nopony would ever believe me that it had happened at all, though I had no plans to tell anyone else anyway. In a return to her typical behaviour, Helios’ posture shot straight up and her eyes fell to the black of the wall before lifting up the chalk with her magic, beginning to sketch out the layout of the base and every detail she could mimic through my memories from a top down perspective.

“So… what is it?” Freight Train asked, touching a hoof to his chin as he looked upon the diagram as it was still being drawn. “Wait… is that what I think it is?”

“It’s a diagram of the base that Cherry is being kept in. Helios is still completing the details, but judging by my estimation…” I touched the board where Helios hadn’t yet reached with her ‘art’. “...I’d say that right around here or so is where Cherry is being held.”

“Actually, a little to the left, Crimson. Very close though. That’s where that very high security building is.” Helios retorted.

“Crimson,” Freight Train tenderly began, speaking slowly as if considering his words very carefully. “I hate to break it to you, but getting in there? We’ve already looked ourselves. We’re not going to pull it off. This isn’t going to be an option for us.”

Waving a hoof at him, I wasn’t angry, but I didn’t care that he doubted the plan before I’d even begun explaining it either. Drawing in a breath, I exhaled deeply and smiled. “Wings.”

“You might have wings, but we don’t.” Tsunami quickly responded.

“And besides,” Grinder added. “Freight Train is right. We’ve had a look at the walls when we were outside. Too many guard posts, the walls are built tall and looks to be almost as strong as back in Four Ridges, and judging by the amount of combatants we found doing patrols? It’ll be a certain death to go in.”

Looking at them, I wanted to begin explaining everything I was thinking, but the look on Freight Train’s face told me he was still rolling some words around through his mind. Lifting an eyebrow, I nodded at him. “Go on.”

“My team are right, Crimson. We may be the special forces, but even we have our limits. We’ve assaulted raider bases, taken out swaths of enemies, and even wiped out slaver caravans without leaving a trace. I know you have no concept of how well guarded those are, but I trust you’ll have faith and believe me when I say that the Talon Company mercenaries are no joke. A griff is a tough enemy to face, even more-so to do so without leaving evidence of who did the job. We’ve done that. We can achieve amazing results – when we know what we’re doing, when we have our full team, when we choose the battle ground and lay ambush. Even when we’ve assaulted raider camps, we’ve still made sure that we never went in blind and never attempted a job that we felt outmatched on. This… this though? This is too much for us.”

Drawing in yet another breath and letting out a long, content sigh, I nodded. “I understand. I know you’ve lost Shockwave and obviously the objective is to rescue Cherry. I know her invisibility must have been a gift from the Goddesses to you. But I’m not asking you to go in.”

The room froze, even Helios stopped drawing her diagram and turned to me, a look utter disbelief etched onto her face. “Wait… you’re not asking them to go in? Why are you getting me to do this then?!”

“Because we’re the ones going inside while they are going to be acting as the distraction… far enough outside that they won’t be threatening the base itself at all, but close enough, and loudly enough, that the D.Z.C. are forced to pay attention.”

“You’ll be throwing yourself into a death trap, Crimson.” Tsunami quickly roared. “I didn’t do my damned best to see you throw your life away a couple of days later!”

“I’ve already gone in.” I reminded the angry mare. “I’ve spoken to Cherry. I’ve seen it all. That’s how we have this information on the layout. That’s why Helios went through my mind. I know what dangers await me. I know what to expect. I got in and out with myself and Eos whilst not giving ourselves every single advantage we could take. I may have had a bumpy ride coming back, but I’m certain we can pull it off with enough of a distraction.”

Finally it was Iron Wall’s time to speak as his head lifted and eyes met mine. “What were you thinking? Because you’re going to need something big if you want to draw enough attention away.”

“Explosives are a must. Between your missile launcher and Titan’s Styx, there could be some real fireworks going off. We want it to be loud, confusing, and highly threatening.”

A cough came from the doorway as Dawnstar leant up against the frame, a smirk on his face. Someone must have left the door open, much to my horror. A plan like this needed to be secret. Stepping into the room, he closed the door behind himself and sat down at one of the chairs. “Seems like you need someone with the know.”

The arrival of Dawnstar had been a blessing in disguise. I’d spent some time with Titan’s Lieutenant but I hadn’t really gotten to know him well enough to trust him with this myself – but there was no choice now. Despite my qualms, it turned out he indeed was in the know.

“So, back to the point, like I was saying; whilst I was outside, I came across a gang who heard about a certain somepony’s exploits last night. You might think you’re stealthy, Crimson, but word gets out when you end the life of a soldier within their own base. The stories paint you as looking like a blood soaked demon who came from the shadows and slaughtered two and left another on the verge of death. You’ve pulled off an achievement that nobody has before – and you got back out.”

Cracking a smile, I couldn’t help but feel a little bit proud as I looked at the Spec Ops ponies. For all of their talk about how assaulting the base was nothing but a deathwish, I now had yet more proof that it could be done after all. Of course, there was the fact that I had a natural advantage as a pegasus, but it still made clear the point that such a feat was possible.

“Wanna know what else? They’re thirsty for blood and glory of their own. They’ve got plans to test the defences on one of the recently assaulted gates to the Luxury District. They were looking to do a small probe today and to gather enough weapons to assault it in a week time, though I’m sure I could at least try to convince them to do it tomorrow night.”

Thinking over his words, I looked at the blackboard and pondered what this meant for me. The Luxury District was what they prized most. It was the economic lifeblood of their operation and far too important to their pride to allow it to fall. Turning my gaze back to Dawnstar, I made no hesitation about my order. “Tomorrow is too late. We do this tonight.”

“Tonight?!” Everyone gasped in unison.

“Tonight.” I reaffirmed with a stone cold resolution in my determination. “If the gang needs weapons, there are weapons to spare here, are there not? I want this done before any changes can be made to where Cherry will be staying, and I want to reduce the risk of our plans being leaked. The sooner we act, the more chance of success we have. Strike fast, strike hard, but most importantly, strike first.”

“I don’t know if they’d be willing to do that, Crimson.” Dawnstar blurted. “They said they were going to probe the gate today, not that they were making a concentrated effort to take it out. I know they’ve got connections, but-”

“Is it a matter of bodies?”

“Probably? I don’t know. I mean, I could ask? But Titan isn’t here to give his consent. I can’t go and make promises without his authorisation.”

The yellow buck seemed to be sweating buckets at the thought of ‘betraying’ his leader or taking things into his own hooves and breaking chain of command, but the swift reaction of Helios struck us both hard. With a voice filled with confidence, she made her decision. “I am authorising this. We have weapons, ammo and bodies to spare. Any request or plan Crimson makes is to be supported fully. As Supreme Matriarch of The Goddess, this is my command.”

Dawnstar stuttered at that. For a moment he looked as if he was about to question Helios’ decision, but quickly backed down from any such consideration. Slowly, he came to accept that he had been given a direct order from even above Titan himself. Giving a nod, he finally spoke. “Okay, as you wish. Should I inform them right now, Crimson?”

“Not yet.” I countered. “There’s still the matter of more plans to be made. There’s time yet.”

Turning my attention back to the board, I now found that not only had Helios drawn a rather thorough diagram of the base itself, but she had also drawn her own rough estimations of how Coltchester as a whole surrounded the area, including a cute compass in the top right of her map. To the west and wrapping around towards the south of the military base sat Slumside. To the south, the industrial quarter of the city, where our previous large scale encounter with the force had largely taken place. To the east of the complex was the glitz and glamour of Coltchester; The Luxury District.

Between the memories I had of seeing it in the distance and Helios’ rough diagram, it seemed that the Luxury District was indeed the perfect place for one diversion; but one wouldn’t be enough. I knew the kind of force that the D.Z.C. could bring down upon any given location, especially one so close to their own heart. We needed something more… but what?

They held Cherry captive. I needed her back. I would do anything to get her back. I just needed one more way of causing a distraction, and I could see her returned to me…
Returned to me? Returned to me! Of course! The captives! Blueheart said that we had his brother and his brothers wife. If we could use them as bait, that would add another distraction to the list. Now all I would need would be a way to use them.

“You’re thinking up some kind of plan, aren’t you?” Dawnstar murmured. “What is it?”

“Are you aware of two captives we took at the battle to rescue Helios and Selene?” I asked, uncertain on whether the stallion would be aware as to who I was even on about.

“You mean that blue earth stallion and his wife? Yeah, we still have them. Last I knew the mare was out of medical care now and remains locked in a holding room along with her partner. Why? What do you have planned?”

Panning my hoof across the room, I smiled. “You lot should like this plan. Your job won’t be to attack the gate to the Luxury District, don’t worry. No, I want the two captives we have to be paraded around Slumside. Your job will be security detail; ensure that no harm comes to the captives, but also that the captives do not attempt any escape. Of course we’ll use binders and whatever other means we might be able to find to stop them from moving too freely, but here’s my thought-”

Freight Train interrupted me, a confused tone set in his voice. “Let me get this straight. You want us to risk our one bargaining chip against the D.Z.C. in a bid to draw them out in an effort to rescue them?” For a moment he paused as he rubbed his chin before continuing. “I mean, that’s well within our capabilities. We could certainly do a routine patrol, but isn’t that a bit obvious, Crimson?”

“I’m counting on the fact that them being assaulted at the Luxury District at the same time will cloud their judgement.” I countered, smiling back. “The bulk of their aggression will go to the defence of their jewel. Meanwhile, having captives being paraded will seem like us merely spitting on them in their moment of vulnerability. We will be publicly lauding our gains over them – the fact that we were capable of capturing their soldiers, and keeping them as prisoners. Not only that, but I assume that being Spec Ops, all of you were gifted the higher quality PipBucks with built-in broadcasters, right?”

“That’s right.” Freight Train simply murmured, slowly catching on.

“To add salt to the wound, I would ask that someone stay close enough to the captives and bait a conversation out of them. Have them speak of how we have been looking after them despite their affiliation with the D.Z.C.” Now things were getting good. “Not only would that reach at least one set of Coalition ears, but it would inspire the citizens of Coltchester to support us; the mighty force who are not only capable of winning fights, but keeping captives and proving it too. The D.Z.C. would feel like this was their one chance to rescue their soldiers.”

“Drawing yet more of their forces out of the base, and giving you a believable chance of success.” Tsunami hummed.

“Exactly.”

With that, I let out a sigh and looked around the room once more. The hushed muttering from everypony gave me no sense of pause as their faces seemed to indicate that the plan was solid. Taking note of there being no objections, I decided it was time to wrap up the initial briefing.
“Any questions?”

Lifting his head a little, Grinder made a gesture to grab my attention before speaking. “Why the diagram of what the base looks like if you know your way around it and we won’t be there? Even if the majority of their forces aren’t home, we aren’t going to be capable of scaling the walls and rescuing you, and even with all of the firepower we might get our hooves on, it would take way too much explosives to make blowing a breach through the wall feasible. You’re going to be alone in there, Crimson. Are you absolutely certain you’re willing to risk this? We’ve spoken to Treetop whilst you’ve been out cold, we know she has been let out of the base on a daily basis in order to help them scan the horizon for trouble. Why not try to rescue her at a time like that?”

“It’s too easy-”

I didn’t even have time to begin saying another word before Grinder continued. “Too easy?! Crimson, the easier a task can be completed, the-”

Now it was my turn to interrupt him. “It’s too easy, and therefore, its the opposite of easy. This might seem like unsound logic, but surely the easier they make it seem for us, the more they’re actually expecting it to happen? Here’s the trouble; a stallion who goes by the name of Captain Blueheart knows I’m in contact with Cherry. He gave me specific times that I can talk with Cherry without being caught by others. He seemed friendly and perhaps even decent, but what if that was a ploy? What if he did that knowing that Cherry would then tell us that she’s somewhere that we could theoretically easily rescue her at any point? The whole reason I’m willing to parade our captives around tonight is because I’m banking on the gang associates that Dawnstar has, along with some P.L.A.C. volunteers, to create a distraction large enough that rescuing those captives won’t be or seem easy to pull off.”

“So you’re suggesting that letting Treetop outside is effectively an ambush, and that they’re only doing it to bait you into action so they might catch you in the act of trying to rescue her.” For a moment, the room fell silent, but Grinder soon admitted defeat. “You’re right. That is suspicious. I’m forgetting that we aren’t dealing with run of the mill raiders or even slavers here, this is an organised force that rivals our own might. Tactics like those are what we would do in their situation, so its best to not underestimate our opponent and think that they wouldn’t do the same.”

“And here I thought you was just some pretty faced Stable colt.” Tsunami chimed back in. “Though it looks like they actually taught you a thing or two in there, hey?”

“Not just a pretty face, no.” I gave back. “A good part of my training to become the next leader is understanding military strategy and tactics after all. Need I remind you that the Stable’s heritage is all about military leadership and that there’s no chance in keeping your lands safe if you can’t assess threats properly.”

With a laugh, Freight Train reached out and nudged me from his chair. “Just a shame that you can’t see the strategic value in not getting shot. They did teach you that getting hit by bullets is bad in that Stable, didn’t they?”

Feeling a hot flush run across my face, I gave the only answer I could think of: “Go fuck yourself.”

The whole room burst into laughter, including Helios who had otherwise been quiet throughout almost all of the whole engagement. Turning my face away, I began coughing to hide my mixture of embarrassment and admittance of being roasted quite well. Upon recollecting myself, I made my final point. “So, Dawnstar. Your job now is to go and round up any volunteers who will go with the gang to assault the Luxury District. As soon as you have any number you’re comfortable with, take them to transport any weapons you’re lending to the gang and make they know it happens tonight. Spec Ops team, you lot go and make a casual stroll around Slumside. Familiarise yourselves with any route you might wish to take. Look for escape routes and anything else you might want. You’re the ones who are going to be dealing with the situation, so I trust your training and instincts to do what’s best for you. The lot of you? Take it easy. No fights, no trouble, no wearing yourselves out. We’ve got one hell of a night ahead of us.”

Everypony aside from myself and Helios made their way out of the room. Once they were all gone, the last one; Iron Wall, closed the door behind himself. Turning to face Helios, I yet again took a long, hard look at the diagram she had made.

‘Do you want it removed?’

I shook my head. “No. Keep it. You’ve done a wonderful job at rendering it from my memories alone. I’m going to need to study this a little longer, as will Selene and Eos. Eos hardly managed to get familiar with the base when she was there with me, and Selene won’t know it whatsoever unless I’m mistaken. We’re definitely going to need this to stay out of the eyes of anypony who isn’t going to be directly involved, however. Keeping this room locked is a must.”

“In that case, I shall study it too.” The whisper of those words coming from her lips surprised me, though I didn’t want to reject her offer, I didn’t know what to say. Catching onto my thoughts or feelings, Helios continued. “Crimson, you have repeatedly put your life in danger for the betterment of Coltchester despite having no affiliation to it prior to your arrival. Not only this, but you put your life in danger to rescue Titan, Selene, and myself.” Though these words were true, I still didn’t know what to say. I didn’t need to say anything though, as the words rang through my mind.
‘I owe it to you.’

Author's Notes:

So, this is a shorter chapter than usual, but after some consideration, I've decided that's what I want to do with this chapter. Now you've reached the bottom, I'll keep no secret that I was in two minds on whether I would make this chapter a whole lot longer or whether I would cut it off here, but I feel that not only have I been loligagging with getting it written and released for long enough, but the fact that I'm closing it where I am means I will have what I need to begin the next chapter with ease, and beginning a new chapter is half the battle for me, half of the time.

With that said, I seriously hope you've enjoyed it. Yes, someone will no doubt say that this chapter doesn't really advance the plot enough, but given the choice between releasing this as it ends here and having a chapter that feels solid in one theme or going for another chapter that spans 30,000 words (no promises on the length of the next chapter, I'm just saying!) and would also mean it becomes a chapter that has two major themes to it? I'd prefer to go for the former.

Now I would like to thank everyone who has supported me in the past, continues to support me in the present, and everyone who might support me in the future. You all mean a lot to me and though I do this for myself, I wouldn't have had the confidence to believe in myself and to believe I could pull it off without you. There's still a long way to go, but we will get there.

Also, as a final note, I seriously suggest checking out the comments, as I'll be leaving a new piece of art made by the absolutely magnificent Brisineo! Titan never did look quite so intimidating!